Free Music for A820 series

The Sony A820 series MP3 players are very well performing and very reliable. Some MP3 player reviews argue that they are overpriced, which is questionable. Regardless, the Sony name might just be worth paying for with their history of reliability and innovation.

A828, A829 Features

The biggest stand out feature of the A820 series is the built in Bluetooth capabilities. If you have a Bluetooth enabled stereo head unit you can play wirelessly from anywhere a Bluetooth signal reaches, so you can quite literally wander around your home with the A820 in your pocket, picking songs at will and never having to go back to your stereo. This is great because its even better than a remote, you have all your music options at your fingertips, not just forward, reverse, play and pause. One other very nice stand out feature is the instant on power. The second you hit the power button the player comes to life, no lag, no loading. Its faster than hitting the wake button on top of my iPhone, which is impressive to say the least.

A828, A829 Design

The design, like most Sony products, is very simple and well thought out. The bottom of the player has small yet very useable tactile controls. Above the main controls is a vivid 2.4-inch color screen. The right side of the player has volume controls, Bluetooth activation, and a hold slider. The only downside to that is the lack of left side buttons, however if you commonly use your right hand to control your device you won't notice or care. The headphone jack is located on the bottom of the player along with the USB cable connecter. The case itself feels extremely sturdy and the player weighs what you would expect it to. The most stand out feature in the physical design of the A820 however is the attachable lanyard with a little plastic stand for the player on it. This is basically the only attachable stand I've ever seen work properly on an MP3 player, and it makes watching video on the player very comfortable.

Audio Quality of A828, A829

The audio quality on the A820 is just as good and reliable as the long line of previous Sony portable audio products. One plus to the A820 is that it comes with a good pair of headphones, not to say they're as good as the aftermarket buds that get common use among audiophiles but they are definitely of higher quality than the standard buds on other players. The buds are also very comfortable, with changeable rubber plugs for optimum fit. The sound quality from the player itself is great, and only lacks if your using extremely high quality headphones, most people however will be wowed by the quality right out of the box.

A828, A829 Interface

The user interface on the A820 is very simple and easy to use, though it has a small learning curve. The song browsing system is exactly what you would expect, browsable by artist, genre, ect, however it also has a nice search function where you can put in the first letter of the artist or song and it will spit out correlating files. The picture and video functions are also very easy to use and work exactly as you would expect them to.

A828, A829 Performance

The A820 gets very good battery life, rated at 35 hours of audio and 10 hours of video it stands up to other players in its class. Due to different factors it doesn't always get a full 35 hours, but it's very close. The player even lasts for a solid day with Bluetooth enabled, which says a lot considering how much power broadcasting a Bluetooth signal can waste. The menus all run smooth with no lag whatsoever as well as smooth audio and video playback.

The Sony A820 is definitely a solid MP3 player, and it gets a 10 on reliability, which it should considering the high cost of the device. The Bluetooth feature and the good out of the box sound quality are definitely a plus as well, and are things you will have to look fairly hard to find in similar players. All things considered the cost is still a little high and you are paying for the Sony name, but at the same time if you have the cash to spend this player is definitely worth spending it on.